Growing, Preparing, and Buying Good Food

Totally

One look outside this morning elicits the recognition that it is “totally winter”. Cold and snow abound. So how do cattle like the cold? Cattle have a 4-stomach, heat-generating digestive system. Their rumen produces temperatures of 104°F. So when you see cattle standing out in the cold, remember that that they are nice and toasty on the inside.

Totally Tomatoes (Randolph, WI) is the catalog review for today. The name suggests exclusivity but that is a bit of a lie. My name for them would be “Totally Tomatoes, Semi-Totally Peppers and Quarter-Totally Veggies”.

Totally Tomatoes offers grafted tomato, pepper, and eggplant plants. Grafted plants are created when the top of one plant is attached to the root system of another plant. They claim that grafting produces higher yields, bigger fruits, longer season, and more resistance to diseases and pests. I have never planted grafted plants but would love to here from anyone who has used them.

Totally Tomatoes does have an incredible selection of tomato seeds. They carry one of my favorite eating tomatoes, the heirloom “Old German”. They feature goliath, large hybrids, open-pollinated, heirloom, cherry, and a large variety of different sizes. They do not mention that they have organic seed.